Reviews

ARTIST Jason Palmer ALBUM TITLE "The Cross Over - Live in Brooklyn" LABEL Giant Step Arts ______________________________________________________________ Jason Palmer opens this formidable double album unaccompanied—an emblem of his deeply personal yet...

ARTIST Jeremy Pelt ALBUM TITLE "Woven" LABEL HighNote ______________________________________________________________ Pelt opens with Invention, a metaphysical prologue where his electronically treated trumpet engages in spectral dialogue with Jalen Baker’s vibraphone. Then comes...

ARTIST Ambrose Akinmusire ALBUM TITLE "Honey from a Winter Stone" LABEL Nonesuch ______________________________________________________________ Akinmusire’s trumpet, underscored by the melancholic filigree of Sam Harris’s piano, introduces Muffles Scream—a track that envelopes the...

ARTIST Avishai Cohen ALBUM TITLE "Ashes to Gold" LABEL ECM ______________________________________________________________ A confirmation – and a step closer to the hour of true feeling. With his sixth release for ECM, Avishai...

ARTIST François Couturier / Dominique Pifarély ALBUM TITLE "Preludes and Songs" LABEL ECM ______________________________________________________________ The piano–violin duo is a classic format – at least on paper – and it has appeared...

ARTIST Bill Evans ALBUM TITLE "In Norway" LABEL Elemental ______________________________________________________________ Almost eighty minutes of previously unreleased Bill Evans is always a gift – and in recent years, we’ve been fortunate to...

ARTIST Benjamin Lackner ALBUM TITLE "Spindrift" LABEL ECM ______________________________________________________________ Brad Mehldau was right to take on the role of mentor to Benjamin Lackner. We last discussed the German-American pianist in the...

ARTIST Tom Harrell ALBUM TITLE "Alternate Summer" LABEL HighNote ______________________________________________________________ Now approaching eighty, Tom Harrell continues to ennoble a language as codified – and at times stereotyped – as post-bop. The...

ARTIST Jakob Bro ALBUM TITLE "Taking Turns" LABEL ECM ______________________________________________________________ It is always a pleasure to hear the voice of Lee Konitz. At the time of this session, he was approaching...

ARTIST Louis Hayes ALBUM TITLE "Artform Revisited" LABEL Savant ______________________________________________________________ For this writer, Louis Hayes will always be linked to an unforgettable night at Bergamo Jazz in 1976, when his quintet...